


Meet Qute

by SelkiePrime



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Gen, but then so does data and i am not apologizing for giving my son feelings, cats bring out the best in us, i have my own Thoughts about ST so maybe slightly OOC, q acts more human here than normal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25011217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelkiePrime/pseuds/SelkiePrime
Summary: Q meets Spot circa "Deja Q". Talk of cats and captains ensues.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Meet Qute

**Author's Note:**

> "What if Q had talked to Data in his quarters during Deja Q?" I thought.  
> This requires my own headcanons of: Q visited the Enterprise more than we saw, and Data feels more than he realizes. 
> 
> I don't want to repeat the old adage of "this is my first fic please be nice" but this is genuinely my first attempt at fanfiction and I'd love some feedback. I love love love the interaction between Q and Data, especially in Deja Q, and so I might write more in this vein if I get any ideas.

Regardless of Picard's nonsense opinion, Q did consider himself an expert on humanity. He had been around for thousands of their lifetimes, watched them grow and die and grow again and die again. Indeed, many of the Continuum studied the lesser races, some out of fascination, and some out of pity. Q's particular interest in humans was not unlike a child up past his bedtime with a flashlight under the covers, reading the same books over and over until he knew all the names of the dinosaurs. 

Not that he would have admitted it.

It was perhaps this millennia-long study of humans that made Data of all of the members of the crew the most interesting to Q, depowered as he was. Humanity's history was the blink of an eye in comparison to the rest of the universe, and Data's existence was an equivalent in the history of his creators. So, while even as a mortal in a physical form and loathe to admit ignorance, he did find Data strange and intriguing. The golden-skinned android who _so wanted_ to be human.

It might have been funny if Q had felt like laughing.

"While Geordi speaks to the captain, I need to check in on Spot." 

After the painful fiasco with Guinan in Ten Forward, Data had led Q to his quarters. As soon as the door opened with its trademark whoosh, an orange creature had sprung from some hidden nook or cranny and entwined itself around Data's legs. Q didn't jump, but it was a near thing. How humans had managed to survive when such tiny beasts could make them crawl of their skin was as much a mystery as anything.

"This is Spot," said the android, bringing Q out of his thoughts. Data was holding the cat under her front legs, her small back paws hanging pitifully in the air, though she rumbled happily in her owner's hands. Her big yellow eyes looked at Q and the rest of the world with a detached curiosity. Like father like daughter.

Before Q needed to respond, Spot had wiggled out of Data's hands and landed with grace near their feet, announcing her hunger with gusto. The meows were not as unpleasant as Q might have expected.

Data gave his facsimile of a smile and walked to the replicator.

"Feline supplement number 90." Data sat the replicated glass bowl on the ground and then took a seat near the door.

As Spot ate her food, Q couldn't help but comment.

"I'm not sure I understand the human need to keep pets," he told Data. Data swiveled to look at the demoted Demigod but Q just held up his hands in defeat.

"You're as close to human as you could be, it's all the same really."

"I appreciate the compliment, Q," said Data. Before Q could tell him it was in no way a compliment, Data continued. 

"However, I must admit that I originally adopted Spot in an attempt to emulate humans. There are quite a few crew members with pets and even more civilians with them. While there were many options, after extensive research, I found that a cat seemed the best choice for life aboard a starship." Spot had finished eating her food and once again jumped into Data's arms. The android scratched between her ears as Spot resumed her purring as though she had never stopped. "A certain amount of independence was necessary as my responsibilities often take me away from my quarters."

"Oh, that's all very fascinating Data, but I still don't understand the point. Isn't owning a pet just a vanity project? Humans creating a situation so that a creature needs them, and then running to its rescue so they can feel wanted?"

"Forgive me if I am wrong, but is that not what you have done multiple times with the Captain?" Data asked. There was nothing but an innocuous curiosity in his eyes but Q wanted to vomit.

"I think Jean-Luc would resent being compared to such a lowly creature," Q said in reply, lowering his height until he was at level with the cat's yellow and black eyes. 

"Perhaps, but it was not my intention to insult the Captain. Rather, I have noticed the need to feel wanted is not limited to humans. While human emotion is beyond my programming, even I can recognize in myself the desire. Even if the creature in question is 'lowly' as you say."

There was a moment of quiet as each settled into their own thoughts. Then,

"Would you like to hold her?" Data asked him. "Spot is very selective with whom she likes, but she may allow you to."

There had been, in the last day or so, many situations that had tested Q's new-found nerves. The situation with Guinan and even just landing on the bridge had been, as the half-Betazoid had said earlier, terrifying. But there was something mystifying about handling the small feline, a different kind of feeling that Q did not recognize, not fear but akin to it.

As Data handed Spot to him, Q could not help but think that she was much slighter than he'd thought. Her fur was soft and warm, though her limbs were somewhat bony, and she forced him to hold her to her own specifications, assembling her arms and legs until her front paws were over his shoulder and her back legs were supported by his forearm. Her claws were also deceptively sharp, going in and out of the fabric of his terrible gray jumpsuit like she was picking out a tune on an instrument. She rumbled.

"She appears to like you," said Data, proud father.

"Well, someone on this ship was bound to be right eventually," Q responded, though the usual venom was not there. As he held the trembling soft creature in his arms, he felt the weight of humanity bearing down on him once again, but it seemed to be less of a burden as before. 

"La Forge to Data, I need you and Q back in engineering," came the voice of the head engineer through Data's combadge. The spell broken, Spot dislodged her claws from Q's shoulder and hopped down. 

Q followed the android out of his room and down the corridors. After a moment, Data asked, "Are the environment controls not to your liking?"

Stepping into the turbo-lift, Q surreptitiously wiped the moisture from his face. He wasn't crying. It wasn't even bravado. But even the small amount of emotion embarrassed him.

"I'm fine," he said, an answer to an unspoken question. And he was.


End file.
